jun2015 Short Skip.indd - Lake County Amateur Radio Club

Short Skip
Volume 63 Issue 6
June 2015
From the Oval Office
by Marv, WV9O, LCARC President
OFFICERS
Marv, WV9O, President
Mark, K9MQ, V President
Jim, KE9FX, Treasurer
Rus, KB9HO, Secretary
BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Bill Young, N9QLS
John Gianotti, W9WY
Ken Brown, KE9TC
Carter Garcia, KC9YGU
Bob, WD9FNY
Russ, KB9HO
OTHERS
Red Cross Liaison
Bill, N9QLS
Trustee, Marv, WV9O
Newsletter Editor and
Webmaster, John, W9WY
REPEATERS
Freq
147.000
147.240
442.075
Location
Merrillville
St. John
Merrillville
All Lake County ARC Repaters
are open to all amateurs. All
repeaters must have a PL of
131.8 set in order to access.
It’s been a busy month with the Indiana QSO Party, and Dayton Hamvention. The club had a good turnout for the Indiana QSO Party we
made a lot of contacts. The station had antenna problems but they were
corrected and we were able to work all the bands. Once we corrected
the antenna problem the antenna and rig worked great and the bands
were busy.
The club is planning to work a mini field day, just working field day
for one day. There will be no pressure so come out and get your feet wet and learn how to work a
contest! This will be a fun day and a good learn experience. I will have a sign-up sheet at the club
meeting.
I made it to Dayton and there was a lot of interesting items to see. The hot topics were the new
flex radio and its new remote display (Maestro). The Elecraft has a new software defined radio K3S
and the old K3 are now out of production. The other big items were there were a lot DMR radios
that change hands. Connect Systems were selling their new CS-750 DMR radio. The Hoosier DMR
group had their DMR (The Hoosier Road Show Repeater) at the Hamvention and it had excellent
coverage for the event. They had the internet connected to the repeater so all the talk groups were
active and we were able to talk back to Northwest Indian on Midwest Talk Group.
Breaking News from Dayton!
by Bob, WB0RUR, on the scene from http://hamhijinks.com/
In a move which catches
accountants, lawyers and
bill collectors by surprise,
the defunct Wet Noodle
Antenna Company has reopened and is doing business as Peanut Whistle
Transmitters. peanut_small
Earlier this year, Wet
Noodle shuttered operations after 56 years of operation amid the sunspot
doldrums of current Cycle
24. But Macy Blixton, son
of founder John Blixton, says
the doors are open again with a
new product line.
“We’re building cheap, poorly
spec’d, almost non-functioning
QRP transmitters,” says Blixton.
“We were cleaning out the
warehouse and discovered a
huge cache of empty Sucrets
tins. We don’t know where they
came from, but we are going to
use them to house the devices.”
Three shifts of employees are
working 6 days a week to con-
struct the initial product offering, the “Peanut Whistle 250,”
a quarter watt CW transmitter
that is crystal controlled and
optimized for 21.054 MHz.
Famous for poor antenna
products, Wet Noodle antennas
were designed to perform only
under the best propagation and
operating conditions. The “Peanut Whistle” transmitter, built
inside the Sucrets tin, will carry
on that tradition,” says Blixton,
proudly.
“When we hit the next sunspot cycle peak in April of 2023,
you might be able to make a
contact with the device. We’ll
be stocked up and ready to sell
these things like hot cakes
Page 1
Minutes
May 8, 2015
Meeting called to order at 7:30PM by Marv.
Introductions were made 17 members attended the meeting
Minutes from April meeting read motion made to accept the minutes as read, motion carried.
Treasury's report was read and we now have 47 paid members, motion made to accept the treasury's report, motion carried.
PO box fee was paid by Jim and Proof of insurance on tower was sent to the Red Cross.
Repeater report, The Reboot has helped the repeater, new lightening arrestors to be ordered and install. Will also check the VHF
repeater for power and other problems.
No DX report
No Skywarn report, Leon triathlon to be June 7 with check in at 5:00AM
RACES report: the Trailer for the Indiana QSO party found both batteries bad on trailer and will need to replaced before Field day.
EMA is planning to move in the future and club will be allow to go to new meeting place. A discussion about the County's new 700 MHz
trunking system
No Red Cross report
Club Net report Net is doing OK and will re-link repeaters for next net.
Indiana QSO party Report TS2000 and computer by Mark brought out with 6 hours operation with
• 183 contacts
• 83 multiplier
• 15189 points
Found that extra length of coax allowed tuner in radio to tune all bands
New Business
Field day to operate for 1 day only with operation 1PM to dark. Will make this a training and a club fun event. Club member questioned about making it a 24hour event and decided will only operate for 1 day for fun and not contest event.
Discussion about a mobile installation where power connection needs to be made as new car current sensors require power connection
after the sensor. Antennas need to have a good ground plane and get a good antenna. No antenna switches should be used.
Ben brought the most unusual connector for power that was a cigarette lighter plug.
Next month show tell will bring a electronic related kit to show, and next months discussion will be the Dayton Hamfest and new radios
seen at the hamfest.
Section manager will be next months program.
Program on DMR started at 8:34PM by Mark.
The meeting was adjourned at 9:48PM by Marv
Program Schedule - June
• Show & Tell: Bring in a project or kit that you have built
• Discussion: Hamvention 2015 and new equipment announcements
• Speaker: Joseph, K9RFZ ARRL Indiana Section Manager
Page 2
Skywarn and Marathons
By Carter Garcia, KC9YGU
Hi everyone! Say hello to the busy time of the year- at least for storm spotters and ARES operators! Our main
concern right now is Leon’s Triathlon on June 7. HAM Radio Operators are desperately needed to volunteer
at this event to provide Emergency Communications. Operators will be handling medical, logistics, and
other types of information for the event.
This is the championship triathlon for the U.S. and Canadian military teams, so it is very important we show
our support.
Because of the magnitude of this event and road closures, volunteers are asked to be on site by 5AM at The
Pavilion of Wolf Lake in Hammond. There will be a meeting for all HAM radio volunteers on May 30 at 6:30PM
at The Greg Phillips Emergency Services Center on Rt2 in Valpo.
To sign up, email me at [email protected]
Also, don’t forget to check-in to our weekly net on Tuesdays at 8pm on the N9IAA repeater (146.685, pl131.8).
Information:
NET Controllers Needed NWI Skywarn is in need of HAM Radio Operators to sign up for a NET Control position. NET controllers
must have storm spotter training. Contact Carter,KC9YGU for more information.
Letterman Issued Embarrassing Ham Callsign
By Bob WB0RUR, on the scene - from http://hamhijinks.com/
NEW YORK, NY – After months of
studying, practice exams, and thumbing
through the latest Ham Radio Outlet catalog, Late Night talk show host and comedian David Letterman has been issued a FCC
amateur radio service callsign.
Letterman passed the amateur radio
“General Class” exam last Sunday at the
Empire State hamfest.
After successfully convincing his wife
that he needed a new hobby to occupy his
time during his upcoming retirement, Letterman passed the exam with an 86% score.
The Late Night host says despite his accomplishment, he’s disappointed in his callsign.
“I was hoping for something funnier,”
says Letterman.
Letterman will join the amateur ranks
with the call sign: KL1ENO
FCC spokesman Robert Thorndyke declined comment, except to say, “Wait until
you see what we have planned for Conan
O’Brien.”
Confused Protestors Picket Dayton Hamfest
By Bob WB0RUR, on the scene - from http://hamhijinks.com/
DAYTON, Ohio – In what’s being called confusing and totally unexpected, about a dozen protestors showed up this morning at the
2013 Dayton Hamfest.
People Advancing The Humane Treatment of Animals (PATHTA) protested in front of Dayton’s Hara Arena, advocating against alleged
unsafe hog farming, growing and butchering practices.
“We will make these mad men stop!” exclaimed group leader Paula Smith-Taylor of Westchester, Vermont. “The unstoppable slaughter
of hogs for food and profit must end!”
A group of ham radio operators headed to the “ <http://hamhijinks.com/breaking-news-wet-noodle-antenna-company-re-opens-aspeanut-whistle-transmitters/> Peanut Whistle Transmitters” exhibit took a moment to visit with Smith-Taylor.
“She seemed genuinely surprised at what ‘ham radio’ actually meant,” says octogenarian Vince Bascoe of Cheyenne, Wyoming.
“After I explained it to her, she told the group to get back into her VW microbus for their next assignment.”
“We’re headed to Arkansas!” Smith-Taylor exclaimed as the van left the hamfest parking lot.
“We hear there’s fighting hogs there! We must stop the insanity!”
WB0RUR Note: The Ohio Pork Producers are offering a fantastic bacon, lettuce and tomato sandwich for $7.99 with drink. They are
located at Pavilion 1B at Hara Arena. The funds raised go to assist with the FCC’s “one kilohertz at a time” project.
Page 3
DMR News
Mark, K9MQ
It’s been another busy month
and DMR activity thru out
the state continues to explode.
Since my last column, they have
announced new DMR repeater
sites in Upland, Plymouth, West
Lafayette (sponsored by Purdue
University ARC), Covington,
Tipton, and Floyds Knobs.
Since that time, Plymouth has
come online at a height of 300’.
Hoosier DMR brought the
mobile roadshow out to Hamvention, and had the demo
repeater on the air. I was able
to talk to W9WY back home
from the ballroom arena along
with keeping tabs on KE9TC
and WV9O. DMR-MARC also
had a repeater online inside
the building for all to use. At
Hamvention, they also had one
of the new Motorola SLR-5700
Mototrbo repeaters on display.
This new rack mounted repeater features a form factor of
1 U high. Connect Systems was
featuring the CS750 handheld
at their booth. Also on display,
was the new CS-800 mobile,
which is still in the development stage. I felt the quality of
the case on the CS-800 was not
up to par. It had a very shinny
non-textured black finish and it
looked like it might not be very
durable. They did not know at
this time, if you’ll be getting a
mounting bracket or not.
Over the past month, Connect Systems has stopped selling the CS-700/701. It has been
replaced with the CS-750/751,
which is exactly the same as
the CS-700 with the exception
of newer firmware and a different memory chip to hold more
contacts and channels. Previously, we were lead to believe
that the CS700 could be upgraded at home with the newest
firmware. However, Connect
Systems has decided against it
now due to the risks of “bricking” your radio and intellectual
property reasons. For those of
you who want the new firmware, you can request a RMA #,
and they will upgrade it for you
for $20 which also includes the
return shipping to you.
Tytera/Tyt has released the
MD-380 DMR HT for under
$200 and there has been a lot
of excitement around it. It has
a nice case and colored LCD
display on it and supports FPP.
The one downside is the firmware and CPS was written by
the same company that wrote
the old firmware and CPS for
the CS-700. The CPS looks
exactly the same as the CS-700
and you will also have some
of the same issues that the old
CS700 firmware has such as no
ability to adjust the microphone
gain. These radios are currently
being imported from China, we
will be hearing quite a few of
them on the air.
I would like to thank everyone who came out to last
month’s LCARC meeting and
saw my presentation and demonstration on DMR. It was
great to be able to talk about the
mode!
Web Page Update
Indiana QSO Party - May 2
We had a great time today participating in the Indiana QSO Party. The weather could not of been any nicer! It was great that some
of you were able to get your feet wet on HF.
In our six hours of casually operating:
• 183 Contacts
• 83 multipliers
• Total Score: 15,189
I have already submitted the log. -- 73 Mark, K9MQ
Check out the recent updates to our club web page
www.w9lj.org :
•
•
•
•
A DMR page with DMR information and a video
Button on the home page to link directly to the DMR page.
Added meeting time to home page.
Added a RESOURCES page (under more) that will contain
info of interest. First post is the article from QST on wiring
mobile radios in modern vehicles.
If you have any articles or information you feel would be helpful
to our members please advise. Thanks.
Membership forms can be downloaded from our web site at www.w9lj.org. If you download the file from the web you can use your
computer to fill in the blanks (makes our secretary happy) and then print the form with your information filled in.
Page 4
For Sale: Heathkit DX-60A Transmitter. 10-80M (excluding WARC). Includes assembly manual. There are some signs of
wear, but overall the transmitter is in good shape. The transmitter
worked when I first acquired it. I’m unable to fully test it at this
time, but the tubes lit up. $60, Sold As-Is. [email protected]
FOR SALE: YAESU FT-920
Comes with:
• Hand Microphone
• FM Unit
• 500Hz CW Filter
• Manual
• Power Cord
Asking $700.00
Contact: Kerry, KB9ORH
[email protected]
Victim of House File Identified as wife of Ham
Medaryville, Ind
Authorities say Nancy Jendraszkiewicz, 53,
died from smoke inhalation.
Not kong ago a Ham many of us knew well, Jerry KE9I, who had
the 145.45 CP Rptr For Yrs become a silent key; his Dad Leo N9QX
was also a Ham . Don, KA9QJG informed me about the awful accident below about Jerry’s wife also a Ham KB9NSC. Prayers and
thoughts go out to all herfamily and friends.
Medaryville, Ind. The victim of a house explosion in Pulaski
County has been identified.
Page 5
Police and fire crews continue to investigate
after a Saturday morning house explosion in Medaryville, which is in Pulaski County.
The explosion happened in the 2500 block of
N. 1600 West at 7:14 a.m.
The house was engulfed in flames when emergency crews arrived, and neighbors reported that
there was a person inside.
The Medaryville and San Pierre Fire Departments battled the blaze for several hours.
A search of the residence was conducted using a cadaver dog, and the body of a female was
discovered. Her identity is not being released until an autopsy can be performed by the Pulaski
County Coroner’s Office.
The Indiana State Fire Marshal’s Office is investigating the cause
of the explosion, but a propane leak is suspected.
A family cat was located alive at the scene by Asst. Chief Gaillard
and turned over to Pulaski County Animal Control.
The house was completely destroyed, but no damage to neighboring structures was reported. More at:
http://www.wndu.com/home/headlines/Authorities-investigating-after-early-morning-house-explosion-303998331.html